Eternal Crisis? Aftermath & Five Consorts
by sanctum-c
Summary: Eternal Crisis? Aftermath: Aerith reflects on the calm following the defeat of another member of Jenova's species. Five Consorts: Five POVs for the daily lives of Cloud, Genesis, Zack, Angeal and Sephiroth after Eternal Crisis? Aftermath AZGSC
1. Eternal Crisis? Aftermath

Written for lunardragonfly on tumblr for Secret Santa who asked for: _cute snapshots into the daily lives of AGSZC from each of their POV_

I think I missed the mark a bit - this first section is a hasty plot section put in place prior to the POVs since this was set post _Dirge of Cerberus._

* * *

Even now, in the aftermath and the peace, the sky remained something of a threat. There was an enemy out there beyond the sky, one they had little knowledge of - hardly anything at all past theory and conjecture. As non-threatening as the afternoon sky appeared, it was impossible for it to not now induce a shiver down Aerith's back. So different to her old fears of the sky; where once she feared falling into the endless blue, now she feared what might fall out of it - a situation not as remote at she might like. The night sky was little better. Cid still maintained space exploration should continue to allow them to push out from the borders of their world. She remained wary of what he might find if he tried.

Maybe she should relax and not view space as a little more than a threat. Even at the worst odds the chances of yet another creature... Aerith sighed. Maybe it would have better to never know of Lem's theory. Certainly she could have lived the rest of her second life without hearing another word from anyone capable of working alongside Hojo - no matter how unconcerned Reeve was about that little aspect of his past. That the man held any position within the WRO at all... Frustrating too that their enemy likely bore them no amenity or malice; it simply strove to survive as best it could - and the destruction of Gaia was incidental to that goal.

Aerith had never met Lem in person - a minor point for which she was oddly grateful. She had read his report, extrapolated from notes and theories stretching back more than thirty years. Right from the very first days of the Jenova project. Lem had saved a good proportion of the old files and research notes days before a second and more aggressive fire wiped out Nibelheim for good. The arsonist was not hard to figure out - right now he lay in the nearby field with his four companions. He had his reasons for attempting to once again succeed where he had failed and no one seemed inclined to blame his efforts. No one had died in the second fire at least.

Lem's report concerned a theoretical planet somewhere out in the vastness of space. Fantasy and science-fiction writers had touched on aspects of the world Lem described; typically they were more optimistic than Lem's dark fantasy. No. No, it felt far too plausible to be a fantasy. As much as they might never know the truth - might never want to know the truth. There were no sentient beings upon the world - a place Lem code-named J for brevity - or at least nothing that would be comfortingly familiar.

The sole inhabitant, the entire surface of J, was a nightmarish mass of writhing flesh and sinew, or muscle and membrance. A gaseous atmosphere might cloak the world, though it barely qualified as atmosphere, formed entirely of the mass's exhalations. A bleak depiction of alien life. The world orbited no sun or any other form of warmth or light. J hung in the deepest darkness - but in a perverted similarity to their own world, J was sentient. Not an amalgam of every creature who walked or crawled upon the surface as with Gaia; this was a massive creature almost beyond their understanding.

Rebuttals from others in the WRO were quick to come. As attractive as the theory was to explain the two known invaders from space, J could not have lasted long enough to cause harm. It might not even still live for all they knew. Lem's second report detailed all the unknowns and likely impossibles within his theory. He agreed the world could not have always been in the state of his conjecture - but it's past did not seem to matter beside the threat of it's present. Perhaps the singular inhabitant, the monstrous central form knew from where it had arisen. Maybe it had always been and would always be until all other life in the universe was gone. Only then would the fate of J be certain.

Lem wrote of growing masses on the surface of J, accumulations of hideous flesh and a variant of the J host body consciousness contained within. These buds as he referred to them would detach and blast out into space at regular intervals. Out in the void between worlds, the buds sought desperately to return and rejoin the collective body on J. Slowly, but surely all the disparate sections would meet again, drawn inexorably together.

Some of the buds fell onto rocky, barren worlds, planetoids, asteroids, comets. These buds would seize the solid matter and propagate to coat the rock in effect becoming miniature versions of J itself. Some buds might yet still be adrift in space, endlessly floating. In any case the buds would continue to drift until eventually they found inhabited worlds. When that occurred the the bud's planet-fall typically heralded the planet's destruction. The impact was often enough, especially if the bud had captured another rocky celestial body. The resulting impact damage in either scenario would draw the Lifestream of the ill-fated world towards the impact site to heal the injury - but instead of healing the wound, the bud would lie in wait to absorb the energy as it amassed, drawing more and more into itself. As the planet weakened, the bud grew stronger the process quickly irreversible.

Thus relieved of it's life-giving energy, the planet would die, the crust crumbling and shattering apart. The bud would remain with the corpse of its victim, floating in amongst the mass of debris, absorbing rock to help wound the next world that much more viciously. The next step was chance for the most part; some buds had to somehow return to J to re-fuse into the mass and thus transfer the absorbed energy back to the whole. Others would continue to drift until they found another planet and the cycle would repeat. Another planet-fall and another swift eradication of the world. Simple, effective, lethal.

A familiar enough story; her mother's words told of something similar based on the events of two thousand years previous. The calamity from the skies. Lem's theory matched what they knew of the coming of Jenova and made sense of her apparent successor. But their world had persisted and still lived, helped by the actions of the Cetra. How to explain this? Another of Lem's theories. The Cetra forced Jenova - the bud that found their world - to change its behaviour. The offspring of J had other vectors to accomplish its ends. More subtle approaches though rarely used for these purposes. A disease spread to eliminate the sentience that resisted it as Jenova assumed new forms to evade capture and defeat.

The events of Jenova's initial defeat and her subsequent sealing within the mountain eventually designated Mount Nibel seemed somewhat at odds with Lem's theory. It shouldn't bother her so much given so much remained unsubstantiated and they had a mere two examples of the entity to base their knowledge on. Nevertheless, the theory was not something she felt able to dismiss easily without further thought. Could Jenova - could any of the buds from J really die? As much as the rain had dissolved what remained of the Jenova cells during the Geostigma outbreak, it was impossible to overlook Jenova's survival within Mount Nibel - not living and yet not quite dead. Could she be certain that Jenova was not somehow merged into the Lifestream and growing ever stronger? Aerith shook her head.

There was solace to be had with her friends. Twice now Jenova had suffered defeat at the hands of humans who managed to surpass the Cetra. Losing the ability to hear Gaia did not impede their ability to fight Jenova - nor her sister. And on both occasions, Cloud Strife had proven vital in their eventual victory. Currently his lover with the black, spiky hair was tousling his blonde spikes. Cloud himself was more concerned with running his fingers through the silver strands of the arsonist's hair. The one Jenova used for her guise and her puppet on their world. Jenova's story seemed to have ended with the eradication of Geostigma. J - as unknowingly as it seemed to act - had not been done with them yet.

A new star in the heavens some months previously was of major concern to the inhabitants of Gaia. As it grew larger it provoked fresh fears born out of recent memory. Avalanche reunited even as observations confirmed the object was far smaller than feared; this would not be another meteor-fall. But even as the humans relaxed, Gaia grew increasingly troubled. It could sense what was approaching and what the nature of that star was.

Once Gaia might have awoken the WEAPONS to destroy the object on arrival. But the WEAPONs were no more; shattered to pieces by Avalanche as they tried to keep their species alive. New versions could be grown, but the process was not quick; years was the fastest gestation period for the smallest instance. No Cetra remained. Well. Almost. People who asked Aerith of her resurrection were often disappointed at what she could articulate of the experience. The border between life and death was narrow and she passed through it almost without ceremony. The world had shifted in a moment and the next thing Aerith knew was that she was floundering in the lake at the City of the Ancients with a singular directive impressed upon her; find defenders. Avalanche were her first choices, but Gaia was not satisfied. Of course not; it did not need to bring her back if they were all that was sufficient.

But Gaia was weaker now after interventions and the elimination of Geostigma. No longer could Aerith summon Holy; her role in all of this seemed confusing. Gaia's panic transmitted to her unbidden; soon it was clear the only thing truly capable of fighting back against a J-bud was the taint of Jenova herself. Not many like that left outside of Cloud. Aside from a few rumours of course. To her continued annoyance, Genesis took weeks to track down. Scattered sightings after the Deepground incident lead her to believe at least one of the subjects of the Jenova project still lived. Aerith tracked him at last to a hiding spot deep in the mountains near Midgar. His grudging recruitment was not enough - but he and Cloud remained the only two living beings with Jenova cells. Both she and Kadaj had ensured no other samples remained. Short of any other idea, Aerith turned to the Lifestream for other assistance.

Two men reassembled from their constituent memories within the churning, swirling mass of Gaia. Zack Fair was well known, well liked by practically everyone. Angeal Hewley was by reputation the most honourable of the former SOLDIERs. Key to getting Genesis focussed on fighting alongside them. Still; not enough. There was one more she could draw on and her reticence to make use of him was only losing them time. Sephiroth returned once again.

Predictably his return was not entirely welcomed by her friends. As much as Genesis and Angeal seemed eager to see him again, his past actions left deep wounds and scars on so many of the others. There had been almost no time for debate though. No time for apology or understanding; that came much later. The bud had arrived all too soon and smashed into the plains near Rocket Town. The resurrected First Class SOLDIERs joined Avalanche, the Turks, the WRO and Aerith in their bid to defy J. That she was here to be wary of the sky was evidence enough of their victory, but what now in the aftermath? How long until the next attack? The months that passed still seemed too short to relax. How long could they continue to resist the threats from space? Would this be their lives for ever more? Resurrected just to fight and guard the Planet from enemies beyond? Perhaps a question best left for the future.

Aerith left the quintet to their privacy as she sought out Tifa. The SOLDIERs had earned time off to enjoy each other's company. A surprising twist in the aftermath of the battle; long hidden feelings loosed by death and rebirth. Cloud's former crush on Sephiroth was no secret - or at least made some sense from past conversations. That Zack experienced something similar was very much a surprise; though again made sense in retrospect given his adoration of the man. Angeal and Genesis were perhaps the least surprising. Zack mentioned something of a persistent rumour about the duo - though the mention of the pair once sharing a bed with Sephiroth surprised even him.

In the end the five of them had much in common and so much love for each other. And at least they were all happy now.


	2. Five Consorts - Case of Genesis

Genesis shifted on his tree-branch and flipped to the next page of Loveless. Not that he needed to read it; the contents of the play were already indelible within his memory thanks to pouring over the pages endlessly. But it never hurt to go over the lines - after all he had a performance to give later. Lead role in the current production of Loveless. Genesis smiled to himself. When he was a SOLDIER his goals had all been militaristic. Even when awoken from Deepground his thoughts had been about saving the world. But people still needed entertainment; they needed distractions. After Meteor, after Geostigma- And after that invader from space. So he took up acting, the others assuring him he would be perfect for such a task. Still; hard to focus on the overly familiar lines. The four people in the field below him seemed far more interesting. Still strange to be with anyone or have company like this. More so when most were from his past, called back to life by the will of the Goddess. The Goddess who did not like her true name of Minerva and insisted he call her Aerith. And she swore far more than he might have expected - much of it directed at him when he got distracted.

Not a surprise; he had admittedly been less than helpful when she first found him after scrambling up the steep mountains near Midgar. He had stayed away from the world as he tried to work out how best to serve it. This girl in her pink dress had seemed like an irrelevance - as much as she insisted she was there for much the same reason as he. Her mission when he finally listened was better, more direct. Saving the world was definitely his new credo - though the added complication of a new being like Jenova approaching the world gave him pause. It did not sound real somehow.

She had been right about the situation in the end and he had been so very wrong. The resurrection of Zack and Angeal helped him direct his energies to the world's shared goal and he was thankful he would not face the foe alone, though he remained easily distracted. It had been close to a decade since he last saw Angeal, and hard to believe that the Goddess could undo the destructive elements of Hollander's work and leave him looking close to the old Angeal - prior to the degradation. Close but not quite there. The singular wing that marked the beginning of metamorphosis was on his back - the last legacy of the Jenova cells that would give him the strength to fight back against the new enemy. A wing paired with his own and Sephiroth's

Amazing how strongly seeing Angeal affected him. Genesis had long ago reconciled never seeing the man again while he lived, and yet here he was. Memories bled through a haze of hatred and clouded whisperings. His childhood in Banora with Angeal. Their teenage years and training for SOLDIER. That first kiss in a heated moment of passion and all the kisses that followed. The need for companionship in the night-time. So many little moments of time spent curled together; warm and content after passionate clinches and long days.

Of them all, Sephiroth had left the longest lasting mark upon the world. The notion the Goddess allowed his return and trusted him enough to fight alongside them seemed somehow absurd with that context. A man who even admittedly under the influence of Jenova had come so close to ending the world on two occasions; could they even begin to trust him to fight for it? While neither of their hands were clean, the group known as Avalanche muttered darkly about the sadistic pleasure Sephiroth had taken on multiple occasions three years previously. And yet the Goddess or perhaps Gaia itself forgave him still and had allowed him to remain amongst the living with the others. A thank you perhaps? Sephiroth was at least softened by the experiences and his subsequent deaths. Less stern now and far less stiff. Any wariness soon evaporated in the aftermath of the battle and it was if the events of Wutai had simply never occurred.

The remaining two younger members of the group were intriguing from how little Genesis knew of either. Zack was a little less new and known to him - mostly as the architect of his defeat beneath Banora. The excitable puppy was still always on Angeal's heels. But no longer a puppy; the cub was becoming a wolf. And something of a special case in any event. While Angeal insisted he remembered nothing from the moment of his death to opening his eyes in the present, Zack was deeply and intimately aware of the Goddess's actions and the events that transpired on Gaia. There was still a need to work out romantic overtures towards him; quotes from Loveless tended to send him into fits of uncontrollable giggles. Not entirely effective for seduction or romance. Though decent enough to keep him quiet when he got a little too excited - or annoyed the newest SOLDIER a little too much. Just what had things been like between them? He was not really a protoge. Maybe a ward?

Cloud Strife's former relationships extended to just Zack and Sephiroth. This scrawny twenty-something had somehow successfully defeated Sephiroth on three separate occasions. He resisted the whispering lure of Jenova to a degree almost beyond reckoning. A mystery and a new companion; definitely the most interesting person here. Zack doted on him and a few kind words from Sephiroth would send a flush across Cloud's face. If Zack was a puppy then that should make Cloud a wolf-cub. And yet he seemed older, more mature than his elder.

Had to stop staring at Cloud. The others were still lounging on the grass, bathing in the warm sunlight and the peace of the world. It might all change in the future; a new threat arising to disturb and change everything they knew. But for now they could relax and enjoy life. Genesis snapped Loveless closed and slipped off the tree branch; his wing caught him as he fell, scattering loose feathers into the air. Not an accident; everyone's eyes were on him and he could not resist the smirk as he floated down to his lovers. He still had time to spend with them before the curtain rose.


	3. Five Consorts - Case of Cloud

If only Zack could be as gentle as Cloud was being with Sephiroth's hair. What was he doing back there? It felt like he was grooming him. Kinda like a monkey. Too lazy to try and stop the other man playing with his spikes; Sephiroth was right there and impossible to ignore. Odd how quickly his teenage adoration of his hero resurfaced in the wake of their victory against the second Jenova entity and after the SOLDIER's resurrection, after they had saved each other's lives more than once in the frantic battle. And still it was odd to be so close, to just touch his hair. Sephiroth should be a mythic being - far beyond a mortal's touch. And yet here Cloud was, right beside him - his fingers brushing through soft and silky hair on his day off.

Just what conditioner did the man use? Assuming that he had needed to; maybe soft hair was an after effect of resurrection. Maybe Genesis, Angeal and Zack were likewise affected. That would be a good investigation later. Still; something to look out for when he made his next delivery. Luxuries like that were still scarce as the world moved on from Mako and Meteor. Strife Delivery was very much in demand - and now the staff had expanded. A few people did query if spiky hair was a requirement for employment with the company and Cloud just smiled in response. There was a tickle of memory at the thought of conditioner; some list or email from years and years ago. How had he managed to read that - or who had been able to find out that detail? Had it been from one of the SOLDIER fan-clubs perhaps? The thought seemed to evaporate even as he tried to grasp it. He suppressed his sigh and refocused on Sephiroth. The man once the object of utter hatred and now a lover was right beside him. An unexpected realisation that he might not be as opposed to the man's presence as he might once have been.

The presence of both Aerith Gainsborough and Zack Fair certainly helped relieve remaining tension between them; his two greatest failings alive and well once more. Still hard to overlook the past - as much as Sephiroth insisted it had been at Jenova's direction that he injured Tifa and slew Aerith, as much as he had long forgotten Cloud's family in Nibelheim and the death of his mother. Battle helped forge a new trust between the men and things became easier. The casual ease of interactions with Zack spread to the others and soon even Genesis was teasing him like they had known each other for years. Angeal still remained a little distant, a little aloof - Zack privately mentioned he might have concerns about the state of the Buster Sword.

Zack tugged a strand of hair harder than before and Cloud made a half-hearted swipe at him. The man just grinned and continued to preen. Comfortable and familiar; tinged as it was with the last vanishing traces of guilt. Zack's presence made him oddly relaxed - as far as his memories allowed him. They had never spoken as much as he might have liked and there were only vestiges of memories from that year they spent evading Shinra and tracking down Genesis. And after all Zack did, Cloud somehow still forgot him - more guilt despite Zack's protestations everything was now okay.

Fragments of memory bubbled up from the murky depths of his mind every now and again; Zack insisting he would do everything to keep him safe. Zack guiding his stumbling, awkward steps as they fled the reconstructed Nibelheim. Zack hiding him as the Shinra army cornered them. Not once had Zack entertained the notion of abandoning him and saving himself. His presence was calming and always had been; a vital aid in the final moments of the Geostigma crisis - and a voice of reason when Sephiroth came back to life.

Angeal was something of an engima still. His reputation as a traitor to Shinra was one of the few things Cloud could actively recall from his past life regarding the man. Not something best blurted out when meeting him. Easier to hang back as Zack succumbed to excessive over-excitement at their reunion; Angeal called him an over-eager puppy. The comment drew louder laughter from the three older SOLDIERs, Zack grumbling and Cloud perplexed. The original owner of the Buster Sword too - Cloud had never formerly stopped to consider the history of the blade he once wielded. Zack had offered to return the sword from the church, but Angeal insisted it stay, preferring to take a training blade from the remains of the Shinra building. Typical was Zack's sole comment.

Even if Angeal was the most guarded of the quintet - Genesis certainly seemed to want some matters left unsaid. Though he filled the remaining silences with quotes and flourishes and it was impossible to resist his wry smile and dry humour. A floating feather drifted down and Cloud looked up as Genesis descended. Less well known to him in the past than Angeal - even if they had come into close proximity on a number of occasions. Cid had muttered something about the man frequenting theatres in Edge - and the time he was dozing, forced awake and then quizzed about the current final act of Loveless. The man's obsession with the play-text was a running joke with the other four - even the sight of the book enough to prompt a succession of groans from Angeal and Sephiroth. But despite that obsession, the man seemed to set his undivided attention upon Cloud. It made sense to a point; he was the most recent addition to the group - and the one with the least connections with the relationship. And maybe that was what drew Cloud's attention to both him and Angeal - the unfamiliar. The man still seemed a little at a loose end even now with his theatrical career. Maybe he could join Strife Delivery at some point too.


	4. Five Consorts - Case of Zack

Cloud's hair was seriously nothing short of amazing. Despite the superficial resemblances between them, Zack's own spikes did not hold anything close to the fascination he found with Cloud's. The blonde spikes were far more pronounced and stood higher from his head than Zack's. They were amazingly soft and sprang back into position the moment he let go of them. Even better was when Cloud removed his goggles and swept them all back after they finished deliveries for the day. Even spikier hair and absolutely irresistible. So addictive - and all after a spur of the moment friendly gesture to a Shinra grunt - the one with the aspirations of becoming a SOLDIER. He achieved that goal and so much more; he was now one of the Gaia's chosen guardians. He'd even successfully defeated Sephiroth twice in hand-to-hand combat. As much as Zack had defeated Genesis, to defeat Sephiroth was something else - and far more impressive.

Difficult to say where his relationship with Cloud truly began. In his more romantic moments he might claim it was after that helicopter crash; the first time they spoke to each other. Privately he admitted to Aerith this was not completely true - his courtship of her had been a big factor in his life at that time, and that had seemed right and fine for the most part. Then again; maybe there was some truth in that faintly hapless romantic insistence since the pair kept running into each other after that meeting. Also difficult to simply dismiss the comfort and ease with which they spent their time together. And it was not as if Cloud had been simply a passive participant; the younger Shinra grunt had invited him to have dinner with him and his mother during their trip to Nibelheim. It would be nice to see more of that kind of brazen confidence from him still - though maybe it was truly naiveity - though chances are Hojo had killed such impulses during those long five years of torture. Other days it seemed like Cloud had never really changed. Zack shivered. Anything to not think about Hojo. A few uncomfortable moments that occasionally forced him awake at night, racked with shivers and fading nightmare images. His four companions were always there for him though - all willing to comfort and console him until he slipped into blissful unconsciousness.

Sephiroth was not so much a crush, but neither had Zack been exactly blind to his appeal. Maybe he had been crushing on the older man for as long as Cloud had. He had signed up for Sephiroth's fan-club; and indeed Angeal and Genesis's. He smirked at the justification he made to himself; just to keep tabs on his fellow SOLDIERs. The truth was clearer now; an unconscious urge to savour over the details of the First Class SOLDIERs just like the other members of the club - none of them doing much to hide the lust for the subject of their devotions. What would those people say now if they could see them? Were they still around and making tributes to the grand old days, or had Sephrioth's attempt on the world made people give him a wider berth than they had in the past?

Zack shook his head. He would have followed Sephiroth almost anywhere at the merest suggestion of a mission. Time had changed much, but he would still not pass up an invitation from the silver-haired man. Even after the taint of Jenova and the Lifestream changed them. Genesis was perhaps the odd one out; he had never been in the confusing mass of voice and sensation as the others had - some of them more than once. But Genesis did not seem to need that depth, as much as it helped him understand and ultimately forgive Sephiroth. The conflicts, doubts and regrets written clearly for him to see and experience as Aerith worked her magics to purge the Jenova cells from the Planet and return Cloud to the living.

Hard to meet Angeal's gaze at first. More difficult than Genesis and far more difficult than Sephiroth. Angeal had been so intimately a part of his life and his loss had affected him more deeply than he expected - even though the request for his execution came from Angeal's own wonderful lips. He had not wanted to kill after that; a notion that allowed Genesis to survive their confrontation. Even after everything he did, for all the death and destruction that he plagued Midgar with. Guilt though; how much of what happened after he fell near the city was due to his duping by Jenova?

Maybe if he knew his feelings earlier, had not tried to return to Aerith as he thought was best... No. Jenova cell called out to Jenova cell; his mind frantically filling in justification even as he made questionable decisions. He had at least enough control to seek out Genesis beneath Banora. While Angeal had died at his own request, he struck Genesis down while he tried to live free from the yoke of Shinra.

Fear had guided his hand then, a fear that still clung to him even as the group sat together. Difficult not to worry about Genesis being cold or a little dismissive at first - even as Zack meandered through an apology and explanation. Genesis seemed to take it badly; he demanded answers to Zack's decision for an impromptu picnic after his defeat - answers Zack did not really have answers for. But just as the relationship seemed threatened before it even began, Genesis smirked and recited a passage from Loveless. Zack it seemed was already forgiven. That or Gen was just rehearsing.


	5. Five Consorts - Case of Sephiroth

The old hate was still there. Buried deep now, no longer a motivator or a controller of his actions. It still made him a little wary, a little reluctant to truly relax however. The feeling should pass eventually - if not it might ruin everything the five of them had come to find in each other. There had been a time when Cloud's face, even his name had provoked such intense loathing from Sephiroth. Understandable to an extent; even years later it was impossible to forget how he had been responsible for each one of his three deaths.

The first of his reported deaths - though he ultimately survived his time within the Lifestream - had been while he suffered delusions of grandeur. How could he have ever thought of himself as a Cetra, as one of the true inheritors of the Planet? In claiming to be one of them he turned back on his true race - the humans; the species he dismissed as an infection. His rage had consumed him; Zack scarcely able to defend himself from his anger and soon fell to his attack. That should have left Sephioth with no more obstacles to his goal.

Hard to forget looking down in confusion at Zack's sword - Angeal's once - protruding through his midsection and splintering the glass holding the remains of Jenova. His mortal wound, the beginning of that first defeat was at the hands of nothing more than a lowly grunt. Sephiroth smiled. At least Cloud retained the attitude he exhibited back then; not even Hojo with his experiments, with mako, with torture could take that from him.

Cloud confessed early on that he had doted on Sephiroth in the past; once he overcame his own hate, the younger man rapidly opened up and Sephiroth began to respond in kind. It was his next action left Sephiroth close to speechless. Cloud guided him to a distant corner of the world and to a cave behind a waterfall. And for the first time Sephiroth saw his mother. Gone some three years now, fused into crystal, immortal and silent. The former Turk Vincent was on-hand to fill in more of Sephiroth's obscured past; the truth of his conception and the depths of depravity Hojo sank to in his desperate quest for knowledge. Returning from the cave made the world more real somehow; an after-effect of his resurrection perhaps. And now Cloud was playing with his hair. Somehow appropriate - Sephiroth mentioned offhand that Cloud's might one day turn out a similar colour - a notion that did little to displease either of them.

Zack had perhaps escaped the worst moments of Sephiroth's slaughter of Nibelheim. The discovery that the town existed purely for the Jenova project, that those who lived there were willing technicians, assistants and workers for the Shinra company felt like it should form the basis of a justification for his actions, but Sephiroth could not for a moment claim that was what had motivated him. That Cloud's mother was both a worker at the Mako reactor and later caught up in the firestorm he left in his wake was no excuse. Easy to understand the hate Cloud previously bore him.

Nibelheim was the last time Zack and Sephiroth saw each other until Cloud sent Sephiroth back again to the Lifestream on a third occasion. Saw was perhaps the wrong word; seeing in the Lifestream was not quite the right word. Not so much a conversation as an unconscious melding of spirits in the tangled mass of sensation within the Lifestream. That which still considered itself Sephiroth came to know that which still considered itself Zack Fair. Set ways and thoughts from a previous life slowly gave way as the ebb and flow of the Planet as it finally directly acted on him.

His murder of Aerith Gainsborough - in the end forgiven by his victim, that she might put aside her own worries to work for the betterment of the world - was something he had not realised he needed. He needed forgiveness and badly; and he needed a chance to atone for his crimes. Aerith and Zack's acceptance of his regret helped Cloud to begin forgiving his past deeds.

Genesis was still Genesis. As much as the degredation turned him murderous and obsessive, as much as he nearly met an end at the blade of Zack's sword and spent years trapped within Deepground, he was recognisably the same man he had been before the crisis. Not even the singular wing changed his moods or behaviours from the theatre fan of the past. As much as events shaped them, Genesis still clung to copies of Loveless like a talisman - though perhaps like a security blanket would be a better analogy.

It was not the same text; that one lost somewhere and somewhen. With it went so many of his notes and theories on the text, but that did not seem to stop Genesis and he was soon scribbling them into the margins of a new copy retrieved from the ruins of Midgar. If not prevented he would often try to serenade them with his favoured passages and portions of his preferred fifth acts. The limitation was once per week.

Genesis's fixation on Cloud made some sense; of them all the two of them had never actively died and returned to the Planet - though not for want of trying. Sephiroth's remnants came close to achieving that goal, though that intervention seemed a special case thanks to an off-hand comment from Zack. Of them all, Angeal was still the most guarded, level-headed and inherently sensible. As much as Sephiroth aimed for detached and aloof, no one seemed able to entirely take him seriously - but Angeal was never questioned. The man respected boundaries.

A conundrum of the group; it still amazed Sephiroth to realize he liked them all as much as he did. He had reached out to these four others and thanks to that continued to reach out to more people. That was his job now; protector and monster hunter. Few other roles for someone with his skills.


	6. Five Consorts - Case of Angeal

A slightly embarrassed but earnest Zack offering to run to Midgar to fetch the Buster Sword little more than an hour before they fought the alien invader was likely to remain one of Angeal's most enduring memories. That and Zack ignoring every one of Angeal's attempts to tell him he did not have to worry. Angeal insisted it was okay even as Zack begged forgiveness for previously using the sword in battle, dying and leaving the sword to Cloud's hands - and then for him allowing it to get all rusty. Cloud seemed to find this amusing too; he had cared for the blade eventually, polished it and placed it in the church as a memento of his fallen friend - and move one Zack never quite seemed to understand.

Or perhaps he still could not grasp the sword was not Angeal's any longer. Nor Zack's; it was Cloud's. Now Cloud had a new sword, and Angeal honestly preferred using the lighter training swords. Zack had offered the option of running back for the sword; but if he did Angeal insisted it would be for Zack's use alone. He dithered for an age and in the end took a section of Cloud's sword for the fight. Age and later trauma had tempered Zack's puppy personality somewhat. He at least played at still being happy and care-free, but there was more of an edge to his character now. He was a little more cynical and a little slower to react to events. Well, unless that event happened to relate to Cloud; Zack never seemed able to say enough good things about him - or fully able to leave him alone.

Odd to be alive again still. Distance and time helped - some days it seemed as if death was an unexpectedly useful experience as it gave a new perspective on the world and everything within it. And yet at the same time he felt partly lost, adrift and out of place in time. Unsurprising. Shinra had been so much of his life, given him structure and identity. Without it he needed something to replace it; of them all he stuck to the company in a way his companions had not. Hopefully they could provide the sense of belonging he craved.

Angeal had a new mission now, something to hang onto even after his dessertion from the company who formed who he was. He was here to save the world from whatever came to strike at it - an activity he funnelled into assisting Sephiroth with his task of hunting down harmful creatures and by-products from Shinra's rampant abuses of the past. A use for the same weird science that birthed him, Sephiroth and Genesis. That warped Zack into a being similar to them. And that should never have happened to Cloud Strife; never used to elevate him from SOLDIER wannabe to the strongest of them all.

Privately he quipped to Genesis that all five of them were unnecessary for the Planet's purposes; Cloud remained untrained and carried such heavy loads without complaint and yet still fought and won so many more battles than any one of them. Zack insisted he had lost his way for a time a year or so ago, but it was hard to see that in him when Cloud would joke and heft his buster sword replica to fight for the world again. Though; was he really fighting for the world? Could anyone in the end? More than likely it was for his friends and his family. Were they now also his family? Avalanche at least seemed distant. The Turks were familiar enough from the past - not all of them, but memorable characters certainly.

Genesis's survival of the degredation was one of the more remarkable discoveries. He resisted the same condition that drove Angeal to seek oblivion at Zack's hands and lived through it. And his absurd quest had somehow ended in accomplishment too. Pity then that Angeal was ill-equipped to comment on the missing years while he was part of the Planet. He might have stayed alive, but he knew so little about anything after his defeat to the coming of Omega WEAPON seven years later.

The past seemed a constant source of embarrassment for Sephiroth. Still a few wary looks and the odd poorly chosen word or mistaken thought given voice. At least his rehabilitation, his saving of Cloud, his fighting for the Planet rather than against it eased both Zack and Cloud. And that Aerith girl and her friends. Still hard to believe Sephiroth could have turned on people as he had done - that he might have done everything he had been accused of.

For his part Sephiroth strove to undo his actions and work against the past. Of them all he had the most unique insight into the Jenova manipulation and how that process affected others; Cloud's own experience was forever one step removed. And yet for all his experience, they had never quite wanted to believe him, not heeding his words until it was almost too late as the alien thrall threatened to overwhelm them. How her whispering made him eager to strike against his companions - at anyone else on the world. If not for the four people with him, he might have gone to fight alongside her. In the end Sephiroth's calm voice and murmuring encouragement, Sephiroth's gentle hands did wonders to keep his head clear and allow them to fight. The past, their shared past was so much more important. Angeal stood with them and fought as Aerith lead them to victory.


End file.
